Winter Season Chapter 7

His face, sharp with irritation from fatigue, looked quite keen. As he displayed his dissatisfaction and annoyance without hiding them, Taeshik narrowed his eyes and wrinkled the bridge of his nose. Seeing the way he retorted quite rudely by addressing him as “you” without a hint of tension, it was one of two things.

Either he was a child whose blood had not even dried on his head yet and thus failed to grasp how the situation was turning, or unlike his appearance, he had grown up weathering all sorts of hardships and his liver had grown swollen with audacity.

Neither was good news.

Taeshik swallowed a surging sigh and stepped down the stairs leading to the lower floor. He thought to himself that it might be better to send the disposal crew and President Kim to the back mountain in advance, even now.

༘⋆🤍˚ .❄️₊˚ෆ

The 3rd basement VIP lounge was a space completely separated from the upper floors. It had a separate entrance and maintained its own kitchen, warehouse, and even dedicated working staff.

Loud music was thumping against the walls as if the operating hours did not matter. Unlike the upper floor, which was messy with spilled alcohol, spit, and stains of unknown identity, the matte black floor tiles here were clean.

In a space without windows where one could not gauge the outside situation or the time at all, a vague feeling suddenly set in. It was also unfamiliar that the hallway was empty, unlike the upper floor which was crowded with staff and guests during business hours.

While Yihyeon stole glances around without being obvious, the man in the black suit ahead of him was striding toward somewhere without hesitation.

As the door located at the very end drew closer and the music began to grow louder, he belatedly began to wonder. It was unlikely they were going to look back on a past that wouldn’t be a good memory for either of them, nor was it because they were glad to see an old connection met by chance in society—the reason for calling him out separately like this.

“Section Chief, I am coming in.”

Even though there was no returning answer, Taeshik pushed open the heavy metal door. As soon as the gap in the door widened, the thumping sound of music poured out. Grabbing the handle with one hand to hold it steady, he gestured with his head. Yihyeon took a step after exhaling a short sigh.

Thud.

The sound of the door closing came from behind his back. He slowly lifted his head. And even before he discovered Gu Seunghyeok sitting in a comfortable posture on the large central sofa, Yihyeon froze, his lips still bitten, at the sight unfolding before his eyes.

Beyond the room, which was not narrow and had one entire side made of glass, there was a massive space. It was a space like a wide hall where a swimming pool was on one side, and sofas and beds were sprawled out on the other.

Alcohol, cigarettes, papers, and clothing were rolling around on the tables and the floor like trash. Along with dozens of people entangled stark naked.

Trickle, the sound of liquid falling into something like a glass cup was heard. As if led by an invisible force, his head slowly turned to the side.

The figure located where his gaze stopped was perched in the middle of a wide sofa, tilting a whiskey bottle. A cigarette was tucked into one side of his lips.

Having filled the gorgeous crystal glass with liquor, Seunghyeok brought a lighter to the tip of his cigarette with a composed face as if Yihyeon was invisible. Above his black pupils directed downward, the image of a flickering flame formed and then vanished.

White smoke puffed out instantaneously, and his downcast eyelashes rose upward. Unlike before, as soon as their eyes met this time, a chilling shudder spread through his entire body.

Seeing Yihyeon’s face frozen stiff, unlike earlier, one corner of Seunghyeok’s mouth turned up askew. He gestured with a relaxed attitude.

“Sit.”

It felt as if his entire body was being pressed down by a voice possessing a strange weight. His mouth went bone-dry and his heart fluctuated. He could not tell if the reason was the nonsensical sight occurring before his eyes or this man sitting leisurely as if spectating it.

The one who made the frozen Yihyeon move was Taeshik, who approached from behind. The strength of grabbing his arm and pressing him down into the sofa beside Seunghyeok was not strong enough to be irresistible, but it was overbearing.

When Yihyeon sat down, Seunghyeok tucked the cigarette he had taken a drag from between his fingers and raised his hips with a grunt. The man bent his waist over the table to pick up the crystal glass placed in the middle. From the suddenly closer distance, a terrible smell of cigarettes wafted over. Yihyeon stiffened his body and bit the inside of his cheek.

A glass was placed in front of his knees, and then an expensive bottle of liquor, which he had heard was difficult to obtain, was tilted. The amber liquid poured crudely into the glass, which didn’t even have ice, with a heavy glug glug. Beyond the bumpy glass bottle, the figures of the beast-like humans behind the window repeatedly appeared and disappeared. Yihyeon forced his gaze to stay fixed on the glass.

“Drink. It’s expensive stuff.”

With a voice carrying a thin laugh, Seunghyeok pushed the glass with the base of the liquor bottle. While Yihyeon looked down at the dark golden liquid sloshing, he brought his own glass to his lips.

“Thinking about it, it felt like a waste to part ways just like that after meeting for the first time in a long while.”

“… .”

“Nothing has changed about you. Has it been eight years, no, nine years?”

Seunghyeok gave a smirk as he roughly wiped the liquid off his mouth with the back of his hand. Even at the question directed at him, Yihyeon did not react and simply sat still. Above his downcast eyelids, dense eyelashes were blocking Yihyeon’s pupils. Observing that, Seunghyeok gave a mocking chuckle.

“It’s the same as ever, how you sit with your mouth shut tight while a person is speaking.”

Seunghyeok tilted his head while swirling the whiskey glass he was holding. The sound of ice clinking pierced through the heavy silence. Yihyeon did not open his mouth even at the biting words. He was simply staring at a spot on the table with a somewhat exhausted face.

Click.

At such a reaction from Yihyeon, Seunghyeok clicked his tongue and turned his gaze beyond the glass wall. Yihyeon’s reflection appeared over the flesh-colored silhouettes who had cast away even the minimum of shame and were coupling like dogs.

No sign of embarrassment or anxious expression was visible on his expressionless face. The way he sat with his lips pressed together and his eyes downcast was heterogeneous, just like a lotus flower bloomed in the mire.

An unpleasant feeling of discomfort began to crawl up from somewhere deep in his stomach. Because the attitude of keeping his back straight and only looking down felt as if he were drawing a line saying, ‘I am different from you,’ Seunghyeok twisted his mouth coldly.

Would he look this way only if I threw something and broke it? He swallowed the seething impulse and scratched the area around his eyelids with his finger.

Click.

When he made a clicking sound with his tongue again as if calling a dog, Yihyeon’s head, which had been directed downward, finally lifted up. Seunghyeok forcibly pulled up one side of his lips and tilted his head askew.

“Yihyeon… When a person speaks, you should answer.”

“… .”

“Hmm?”

Yihyeon did not react even to the aggressive tone. He simply exhaled a short breath and looked straight into the pupils that were staring at him obsessively. Their gazes collided. Yihyeon’s reddish lips opened slowly, as if reluctantly.

“You said you called for me.”

“…Haha.”

At the dry and indifferent answer, as if replying to a stranger, a short exclamation burst out from Seunghyeok’s mouth. Unlike the sound, there was no trace of laughter on his face.

“Earlier it was ‘go on ahead.’ This time it’s ‘you said you called for me.’”

“… .”

“We met after a long time, why is the greeting so stiff?”

Seunghyeok laughed thin laughs while shaking his crossed foot, then brought the glass to his lips again. Yihyeon looked blankly at him laughing with an expression that said it wasn’t funny at all.

Nine years ago, the traces of boyishness that had remained on his face could no longer be found. His thickened cheekbones and angular jawline added weight to his masculine image.

However, the atmosphere seemed not to have changed much from that time. He looked somewhat unstable and, at the same time, looked bored.

“Nothing to say? Usually when people meet like this, don’t they ask things like, ‘it’s been a long time,’ or ‘what brings you here?’ Things like that?”

Having put down the bottle, Seunghyeok buried his body languidly into the sofa. Despite drinking strong liquor like water, there was no sign of disarray on his face. He spoke while closing his eyes and cracking his neck from side to side.

“Ah. I thought you would ask what that is first before anything else.”

With a thin laugh, Seunghyeok gestured with his chin beyond the glass wall. One man was moving busily between two women. Laughing thin laughs while watching that scene, he spoke without taking his eyes off it.